- MB in International press
- March 22, 2006
- 19 minutes read
Hamas unlikely to moderate stance now that it controls Palestinian government
Levitt: Hamas unlikely to moderate stance now that it controls Palestinian government |
U.S. treasury department official says newly elected group following example set by Hizbullah |
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Editor’s note: The following interview with Matthew Levitt, the deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department, was conducted by the Washington-based Council on Foreign Relations (www.cfr.org). Levitt also served as senior fellow and director of terrorism studies at the Washington Institute for Near East Policy.
Q: Hamas has now made public its proposed Cabinet for the Palestinian Authority and, with the exception of one or two independents, they’re all members of Hamas. Will this Cabinet be accepted by the Parliament and President Mahmoud Abbas? A:
Q: Were there any surprises in the list that was made public? A: I can’t say anyone is surprised by the list.
Q: Some people have speculated that just as the PLO once was regarded as a terrorist organization until it recognized Israel, Hamas in power might moderate its positions because of the problems it would face trying to run a government. Do you think there’s much to be said for that point of view? A: Hamas has made it very clear it intends to follow that model and has already taken steps to actively parallel itself in the West Bank and Gaza to Hizbullah’s situation in Southern Lebanon in particular. Months before the election, Hamas announced it was going to be setting up a standing militia, the Qassam Brigade; it would not take the place of, but would sit parallel to, existing terrorist wings. This militia is similar to Hizbullah’s standing militia in Southern Lebanon. And it also did other things. Hizbullah, for example, has set up an international satellite television station, Al-Manar, which it uses to broadcast its message worldwide, and Hamas has now openly acknowledged that its efforts to set up a Hamas television station, Al-Aqsa TV out of Gaza, is based on lessons it learned from Hizbullah. Hamas is going to use its situation in power to solidify its rule as a political player in the West Bank and Gaza; it’s going to try and incorporate the existing Palestinian security services into its standing militia.
Q: Aren’t there people who favor a more moderate bent? A: The fact that a debate and a discussion occurred is telling, even though it was shouted down. There are elements within Hamas that could be moderated. Whenever I have this discussion, I’m brought back to a conversation I had in person with Abbas al-Sayyid. Abbas al-Sayyid is the convicted mastermind of the Passover bombing of the Park Hotel in Netanya on March 27, 2002, that killed 30 and left 140 injured. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back leading Israeli forces to re-invade the West Bank that year. I interviewed Abbas al-Sayyid in prison, and at one point got into a conversation with him about the issue of whether Hamas can moderate, whether it would be willing to pursue its agenda – even if that agenda includes the destruction of Israel – through political and other peaceful means. I was arguing that the issue the international community has with Hamas isn’t so much its agenda but its means of pursuing its agenda. I argued that some people, though they may disagree vociferously on Hamas’ political agenda, may accept them as a political entity. What he told me is: “Look, I’m a religious person and Hamas is a religious movement. It’s not only a terrorist group, it also tells you how to live every aspect of your life through sharia, Islamic law. And as such, I as a Muslim cannot cede any part of what I believe to be an Islamic endowment – all of Israel, presently Israel – to the Jews or anybody else. If I were to agree to a temporary truce – a tahiya – that would be exactly what it is, temporary.” Al-Sayyid said “temporary” can mean a generation or two, but he added: “If I were to subscribe to one of these long-term cease-fires, don’t think that I would not continue to train my son, who would enable his son, to eventually consider the struggle, the fight, to regain all of this Islamic endowment that is now Israel.” So what we’re left with is a situation where those who are primarily nationalists of an Islamic bent could possibly be moderated. But those who are Islamists of a nationalist bent are less likely to be amenable to moderation.
Q: Now, you were comparing Hizbullah with Hamas: Hizbullah has never been in control of the Lebanese government and Hamas is now being thrust into power. Doesn’t that make a big difference? A:
Q: How does Hamas rule if it knows the majority of the people didn’t vote for it in the first place – I think it got 44 percent of the voting in parliamentary elections – and it’s under such pressure from the outside world to conform to the PLO’s past agreements with Israel? A: I sincerely believe Palestinians are no different than any other people on this earth, and they want to be able to provide for their children, they want to be able to have decent lives, they want to be able to travel, they want to be able to open businesses, and Hamas is going to have to find a way to enable that to happen under conditions that are very, very difficult, because the international community is not going to do business with an entity that is still favoring violence as the preferred means of achieving its goals. But I’m not here to tell Hamas how to succeed.
Q: Sometimes it’s said, sometimes jokingly, that when you have a free election, or a group comes into power, it may be the last free election. If they don’t succeed in giving people what they want, do you think Hamas can actually be voted out? A
Q: And of course, the United Nations is continuing to fund humanitarian efforts in the Palestinian Authority. But that’s difficult if you’re trying to bypass the government, isn’t it? A: The total sum of funds that Hamas injects into Palestinian society is actually not that huge; they’re just much better at marketing it than we’ve ever been, we the international community. It’s entirely within our means to completely undermine the Hamas social welfare system. … Nobody wants Palestinian society to collapse. Nobody wants a humanitarian crisis in the West Bank and Gaza, least of all the Israelis; they would have to deal with the repercussions |